Faith & Water

Monthly Archives: February 2010

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It may be Lent, the church’s annual exercise in melancholy,but today I pray to the Pentecost Spirit:

FIRE ME UP!Fire me up and get me moving!Stir up my life, compel my heartto respond to your cries in the world!Blaze through the fog in my eyes and spiritso that I can see a harvest ripe even in the winter:heads of grain full of food for the hungry,wells brimming with fresh water for the thirsty,fruit falling from the trees to press for healing,and ground to till and reseed for the next season.

FIRE ME UP!Fire me up from my complacency!Whip through my life with a fiery windto clear out the weeds that slow me down!I hear you, suddenly, speaking like a parentmocking my own words to my children, calling out:“we need to have left this house five minutes ago”“it doesn’t take this long to brush your teeth”“how long will you sit still on that couch”“time to go! time to go! time to go!”(Ah yes.)

FIRE ME UP!FIRE ME UP with holy urgency!FIRE ME UP for your time and your work!

Holy Restlessness,I am haunted by traces of youthat leave me wanting more,yearning and excited for more—yet terribly anxious that this is it,that this trace is everything—and oh! my Godthen I begin to grab tightlyto the few strands that I haveas my fear bleeds onto your mystery;and I miss the grace of being haunted,the joy of wanting and seeking.Keep me on my toes with curiosity;I hate it—but keep me unsettled,Spirit of the Living God!

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